Justice., 1887-12-24
DEATH IN A TURKISH eATH.
fhs London Case Not Alarming-No 10
lation of Cause and Effect

The London Case Not Alarming-No Ro.
lation of Cause and Effect
The recent case of death in a Turkish
bnth, really from excessive drinking. re-
ported by The London Daily News. was
recently the text for long article in
your Sunday edition, in which were
many reflections based more on magma
ton than solid facts. There NAV be-
danger In sleeping in temperature of
100 degs., but it is infinitessirnal. Do
we hesitate to go to sleep because the
night is very hot? By no means. There
is, however, great danger in the habit of
excessive drinking, whatever the person
may do afterward, whether it be going
to the Turkish bath or to church, but the
bath would be the safest place to go at
that time. The habit of the bath is a
most laudable one, and is to be encour-
aged at all times, as it tends to the well
fare and betterment of the community
to elevate and not degrade man. 1t is on
the side Of virtue and not of vice.
Because some may at times use it to
get relief from their excesses is no more
the fault of the bath than is the fact that
people will sin during the week and go
to church on Sunday to get absolution
the fault of the church. People are not
made weaker or debilitated by the bath.
On the contrary, they are made stronger
and more vigorous, and more able to use
what strength they have. Disease and
bad habits most certainly weaken, but
the bath never. Let us look little fur
ther, and not hastily say when man
dies that the last thing he touched killed
him. There is too much reasoning from
the surface. Is the sun to be blamed for
bringing nOxious air from undrained
swamps? If one takes Turkish bath
to-day and tomorrow is attacked with
rheumatism or other diseases, is that the
fault of the bath? Emphatically no! If
it is fact that the bath is weakening,
how is it that persons weakened and de-
biitated by disease can take one or two
baths day and rapidly recover?
Again, how is it that the attendants
have worked in the heat of the bath sew
eral hours daily for years and not lost
day from sickness? A fact most promi-
nent in relation to these attendants is that
they invariably improve in health and
strength after commencing that kind of
work. Mr.. d. Urquhart, to whom
modern civilization is indebted for the re-
vival of the ancient ottoman, or Turkish
bath, as it is now called, states, in the
"Manual of the Turkish Bath, that the
best shampooing he ever received was
from man 80 years old, who had been
a worker in the bath since he was years
of age. The frequent use of the Turkish
bath, instead of being killing, is eniven-
ing and helps to prolong life and increase
its vigor. A person who is given to ex-
cess in drink and who makes frequent
use of the Turkish bath is therefore more
likely to live longer than if Ile did not use
the hath The daily use of the bath has
been found in many cases of great advan-
tage to persons in ordinary health, By
that means they are fortified against dis
ease and their systems toned up and in
vigorated. Death has come to man in
the pulpit, OH the ferryboat, at the table.
Is it at all wonderful that it should come
to one while in the bath, when he has
taken the surest course, by dissipation, to
bring that condition about! Rest assured
the bath, in and of itself, is not the thing
to hasten that time Charles Fl. Shep-
ard, M. D., in Brooklyn Eagle.